Pancake breakfast benefits library reading lounge

March 12, 2006|By BONNIE H. BRECHBILL

GREENCASTLE, PA.

Everybody seemed to know everybody else at the Greencastle Lions Club pancake breakfast Saturday morning. People called greetings to each other and visited with friends and family members while they ate.

"Greencastle is a small town," Mike Stevens, co-chairman of the event, said. From 6 a.m. to noon, people lined up for all the pancakes, sausage and puddings they could eat at Greencastle-Antrim Middle School.

For at least the past 15 years, the club has prepared the breakfast to raise funds for their projects, according to co-chairman Bill Needy. Last year, the event raised about $4,000, he said, when the 37-member club served 753 meals. He expected the count to be similar this year. Before 10 a.m., the club has served 500 meals.

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About 30 members helped with the breakfast, preparing and serving 300 pounds of sausage, 120 pounds of puddings and six cases of pancake mix. Proceeds help pay for eye exams and glasses for local residents who need assistance. The club recently paid part of the cost of cataract surgery for a local resident, Stevens said. Proceeds also benefit the Rescue Hose Company and Medic 2.

The club's main project for the year was donating $3,000 toward a reading lounge in the Lilian S. Besore Memorial Library to honor their former president, Joe Bowser. Bowser, his wife, Joan, and their grandson, Elijah J. Virago of Catonsville, Md., died in a house fire in December.

Brothers Larry Shaffer and Daryl Shaffer, along with Daryl's wife Diane and Larry's grandsons Austin Shaffer, 8, and Kevin Shaffer, 7, all of Greencastle, attended the breakfast as they usually do, although they have missed a few years, Daryl Shaffer said.

Kevin's favorite food was the pancakes; Austin said he liked everything. "We try to support the Lions Club," Daryl Shaffer said. "It's a good organization."